Shirt week – how to look like the peloton 1 – Euro teams

I haven’t had a Shirt Week post in ages, but the sun’s out and it makes want to ride, and in three weeks the women’s pro peloton will be arriving in the UK to race the Women’s Tour – so surely now’s the perfect time to buy some team kit to show your support for all these amazing teams! I’m going to split these into a couple of posts because there’s so much to cover, but if I miss anything off, let me know.

You might have seen Vera Koedooder escaping in Stage 3a of last week’s Energiewacht Tour, to win the stage solo and take over the GC lead, and thought “that’s a great jersey”. If you did, you’re in luck, because you can buy it in their fan shop, which sells everything from posters and keyrings right through to a race bike! Prices are all in Swiss francs, but they’re a very friendly team, so you can ask any questions on their twitter, and I’m sure they’ll get back to you.

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We’ve seen a LOT of Boels so far this spring, with Ellen van Dijk winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Lizzie Armitstead winning the Ronde van Drenthe and being on the podium of the other two World Cups – and if you’d like to show your support, their team shop is divided into three parts – team kit (for women and men), packages of stuff and goodies including bidons, caps, fan cards. You really can buy everything there, and there’s something for every budget. Have a nice browse – and next time you turn up at a race you can be wearing their bandana, so they’ll know you’re a fan!

The advantage of having the same kit for the women’s and men’s teams is that it’s simple to sell to both! Here’s their team shop, in three language options, where you can buy race kit, fan items like caps and key-rings and leisure clothing – t-shirt, hoody & sweatshirt. They’re all in a unisex cut, but they do have kids’ jerseys, for any junior Emma Pooleys out there

Thanks to Ulrik Møberg, who showed me the kit for Danish team Rtyger’s online shop, which includes bikes, cleats, helmets and a very beautiful magnetic bottle holder (Danish design of course!). Prices might look scary, but they’re in Danish krone.

The 2014 kit should come on sale later this year – but in the meantime women can buy last year’s great kit in their team shop – and right now there’s a sale on it, so you can buy it cheaper! Or if you want more of that Spec-lulu style, their owner/manager, Kristy Scrymgeour, has launched her own cycling clothing brand this year, Velocio.cc, which has some beautiful things for women and men – check it out.

As Velowijf reminded me, I accidentally missed out Belgian team Topsport-Vlaanderen. Head over to their shop, and you can buy their jersey – emailing the size preference and if you want the women’s or men’s cuts.

With cycling shop Wiggle as the title sponsor, of course you can buy Wiggle kit! Head to their portal on the Wiggle site, and you’ll find the full team kit, socks, energy bars, bicycles – all kinds of things, and the clothing in women’s and men’s sizes. And if the full team kit isn’t your style, but you want to show support, they have polo shirts, t-shirts and caps too.

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That’s Part 1 done – next up, the USA teams – and as always, tell me if there’s anything I’ve missed in the comments or on twitter. And I can’t find any kit for sale from Alé-Cipollini, Astana-BePink, Hitec or RusVelo, but if I do I’ll put it in a post!